Clinical Feature of Primary Pulmonary Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma / 결핵및호흡기질환

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the lung is a rare entity. It is represented commonly as marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) type. Although there have been a few reviews of this lymphoma, clinical features, radiologic findings, management and prognosis have not been well defined. METHODS: We reviewed the medical records of 24 patients with primary pulmonary lymphoma between January 1995 and September 2008; all diagnoses had been confirmed based on pathology. RESULTS: The median follow-up time was 42.3 months (range, 0.1~131.2 months). Five (20.8%) patients were asymptomatic, 17 (70.8%) patients had pulmonary symptoms, and the remaining 2 (8.3%) patients presented with constitutional symptoms. There were 16 (66.7%) patients with MALT lymphoma, 4 (16.7%) patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and 4 (16.7%) patients with lymphoma that had not received a WHO classification. Radiologic findings of primary pulmonary lymphoma were diverse and multiple nodule or consolidation was the most common finding regardless of pathologic lymphoma type. PET scan was carried out in 13 (54.2%) patients and all lesions showed notable FDG uptake. MALT lymphoma showed a trend of better prognosis (3-year survival, 78.8% vs. 70.0%; 5-year survival, 78.8% vs. 52.5%; p=0.310) than non-MALT lymphoma. CONCLUSION: Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the lung occurs with nonspecific clinical features and radiologic findings. MALT lymphoma is the most common pathologic type of primary pulmonary lymphoma. This entity of lymphoma appears to have a good prognosis and in this study, there was a trend of better outcome than non-MALT lymphoma.